Cheap, cheap, cheap course buoys

[jercrane]

Anyone have a source for extremely cheap buoys? Before you jump on me about “spend the money, prevent injury, etc” these will never be skied on.

 

I need these for winter storage of a submerged Wallysinker course. I have a set of brand new super nice buoys on the course right now and I want to remove these at the end of the season, deflate and store to keep them super nice as long as possible. However I need buoys to swap in to the course before submerging for the long winter nap in Octoberish. Course has to have buoys on it to keep it off the lakebed and enable proper raising in spring.

 

Three requirements.

1) must have exact buoyancy of an 7.875” high end buoy so the course sinks and floats properly

2) must be green, the darker the better to reduce visibility

3) durable enough to remain inflated in 40 degree water. They will be below ice level but probably only a foot or two below the ice.

 

Miami Ski Nautique has poly form green for $7.99 but that’s still over $200 for all 26. I’ll do it if I have to but man if I could get that closer to $100 that sure would be nice. Also in past years those poly forms have lost air over the winter. So still not sure on those.

 

Ideas?

[Killer]

Overtons

[buoyboy1]

I bet you can get used ones for free from other ski clubs that hold tournaments in your state/area that are replacing their worn out/faded ones.

[503Kento]

I’ve got a nearly complete set of used ones I’d give you for the price of shipping but they are not green, they are red/yellow.

[thager]

I've had a submerged course for over 20 years. Sink it in the fall then raise it in the spring.

I scrub the buoys from the boat with a course plastic brush and they're pretty and ready to go in less than an hour.

[dave2ball]

Try Clorox jugs. Paint them and then you can adjust the flotation

 

[Deanoski]

Insta slalom

[foxriverat]

@503Kento If @jercrane doesn't want those I will take them. Being on a public river we are constantly replacing buoys people run over on us. Pm me and I will pay the shipping.

[Bdecker]

@jercrane - you can scavenger some old ones from us if you like. If you are only 10ft deep or less even if they lose some air you can just help them up with a boat hook and swap them out.

[GaryJanzig]

On Lake Latonka we have an Accufloat course. We swap out the buoys with plastic 1 gallon jugs half full of water. The ski buoys are attached with mason string and brass dog leash type clips. I have another set of brass clips attached to the jugs with zip ties. The cables and pipes float below the surface between 6 feet down to 1 foot off the bottom. I can bring it up and submerge it by myself in my canoe with no tools other than a rope and a custom made grappling hook(all edges on it are rounded and smooth). I have help. Two of us can sink it or bring it up in under an hour. Antifreeze or washer fluid jugs will work.

[Keith_Menard]

Zoro.com is probably the cheapest I have found...but shipping delays abound.

[Vernon Reeve]

We used to get our 1 gallon jugs from a local dairy for .25 cents a piece.

[The_Heckler]

off the wall here and have no experience with it but you may could get some large corks from a bait shop and paint them green.

[ETskier]

Go to a salt water marine and fishing supply and find the 7.5 in styro bouys for about 4$. They are white, so you may want to spray paint them green. More durable than a poly bouy. Crook and Crook in Miami has them for $3.47. The 6 in ones make great sub bouys and floating course center arm bouys.